My husband grew up in a family where birthdays weren’t really celebrated.
Not many cakes, or hugs, or warm, fuzzy birthday memories.
There weren’t a lot of presents.
Sometimes there weren’t any.
So yesterday on his birthday, I really wanted him to feel special.
We don’t have a lot of money.
But that’s not a prerequisite to make a pretty awesome celebration.
In fact, if we had loads of money yesterday, I don’t think my husband’s birthday would have been even a fraction as memorable as it was.
We made his favorite.
Homemade chocolate chip cookies from scratch,
and a seriously kick-ass, and super easy ice cream cake (directions coming soon).
We sang Happy Birthday in our (still-clean) dining room.
Number 7 is now thoroughly confused.
Now we haven’t really told the kids about my husband’s absence of birthday celebrations growing up, but I think they might have sensed it.
Yesterday Number 4 made up for the lack of cards over the last few decades.
After the cake, she plopped a pile of cards on the table.
Nineteen of them, to be exact.
Apparently at school, Number 4 burst into her classroom and announced, “TODAY IS MY DAD’S BIRTHDAY!!!”
I don’t really know how she managed to swing it, but she got her whole freaking class to make cards for my husband.
So cake, check.
Cards, check,
And then, Number 2 whipped out the piece de resistance.
I knew he was working on a birthday movie, but I had no idea what he was actually doing. All I knew was that he was occupying the rest of the kids for a big chunk of the afternoon, so I was happy.
He set up his ipad on the dining room table, and we all watched.
If you follow the Facebook page, you may have already seen it.
I was going to wait until this morning’s post, but it was so cute, I couldn’t wait.
I had to share it last night.
[KGVID]http://nyam.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/My-Movie.mp4[/KGVID]
We all watched.
The kids laughed.
The grown ups held back the big lumps in their throats.
There wasn’t one gift to unwrap yesterday, but I’d say my husband got every present he could have hoped for.
I tried to make it a good birthday for my husband.
But my kids?
Well, they made it a great one.
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Deanna says
home made gifts from the heart are better than any store bought gift ANY day!!
Lisa says
I’m beyond words…the perfect gift!
not your average mom says
It was pretty awesome Lisa 🙂
Lynn says
Oh how sweet! I cried too! Such sincere appreciation is inspiring!
not your average mom says
Number 2 may be the next Steven Spielberg 🙂
Lori says
This has got to be the BEST THING I HAVE EVR SEEN! Seriously, I want to hug all over your kids right now! AMAZING!
Paige says
Still crying. I love this!
not your average mom says
🙂
Carl says
Susie,
I’m glad I found your blog. My wife and I are young parents and it’s nice to read about your family and see how much fun you’re having! Birthdays are big deals in our house so I enjoyed this post about the birthday party.
We recently started a company called Slouch Headwear. We sell adorable beanies for kids and they are 100% handmade by my wife. Check out our site when you can!
Consider me a new follower 🙂
Carl
http://www.SlouchHeadwear.com
Lindsey says
This is the sweetest thing ever. It speaks volumes about your parenting that you’ve raised such caring kids.
not your average mom says
Aw. Thanks Lindsey. It was a really nice night.